Search form

Search form

More than 2 in 3 U.K. consumers admit shopping for items at retail establishments but then buying elsewhere after using mobile devices to compare prices -- a practice known as showrooming. The U.K. rate is about double the global average of 33%, according to a study by research firm TNS. To avoid the fate of becoming "loss-making display cabinets," retailers should "embrace [mobile] as the most immediate and personalized way to engage shoppers to ensure they don't leave empty-handed," advises TNS' Matthew Froggatt.

Related Summaries

Staples said Thursday it will match Amazon's prices in its stores as well as on the office supply retailer's website, in a push to combat the growing threat of showrooming. "We're the second largest e-commerce player after Amazon, and that's part of the reason why we're matching them," said Alison Corcoran, Staples' senior vice president of North American stores and online marketing.

Dog for Dog provided a sample of its Dogsbar treat in special issues of The Hollywood Reporter -- and some unwitting humans took a bite out of the dog food. The sample was part of a $45,000 ad buy for the pet food company, which is backed by Snoop Lion, Chelsea Handler and Relativity Media's Ryan Kavanaugh. "People do sometimes eat the bars by mistake," but the ingredients are like what "you'd find in your grandmother's cabinets," said founder Rocky Keever.

Chocolate is the fastest-growing U.K. food export, with sales up 19.3% in 2012 over the previous year, said a report from the Food and Drink Federation. Nestle's factory in York, England, is one of the world's largest confectionery facilities, and exports more than 20% of what it produces.

Transaction Network Services has extended its 3G roaming hub to Long-Term Evolution services for Competitive Carriers Association members offering them a step toward a universal roaming solution. TNS' hub enables carriers to establish two-way connections with participating telecoms -- even those outside the U.S. -- by linking to a TNS point of presence. But LTE spectrum interoperability issues limit the number of networks that can talk to each other, according to Steve Parrott of Telephone & Data Systems.

As many as half of all Chinese Internet users regularly log on to social networks, making the nation the single biggest untapped market for U.S. sites such as Facebook, writes Mike Froggatt. For now, Beijing is blocking access to Facebook, but with one of China's largest Internet companies now indirectly investing in Facebook, Froggatt argues this could soon change. "There are several signs that suggest the next big online story about China is going to be Facebook," he writes.